INSET BELOW: Terry Stewart
By Tim Pallesen
Delray Beach’s new interim city manager promises to stick around as long as it takes. Terry Stewart fills a breach that was created when city commissioners suspended City Manager Louie Chapman Jr. for 90 days with pay on May 13.
Stewart’s contract extends to Aug. 11, the day that Chapman’s suspension had been set to expire. But the city hasn’t begun the search for a new permanent city manager yet, so nobody knows how long Stewart might be needed.
“I’m certainly willing to stay longer if they need me,” Stewart, a former city manager in Fort Myers Beach and Cape Coral, said after taking the temporary Delray job.
The situation is complicated by a city charter that requires four votes to fire a city manager. Only three of five city commissioners wanted to fire Chapman. “I need to stay out of that,” Stewart said.
Voters will decide in an Aug. 26 special election whether to change the charter to require only three votes to fire a city manager.
Mayor Cary Glickstein and Commissioners Shelly Petrolia and Jordana Jarjura tried unsuccessfully to fire Chapman on May 13 and again on June 3 after the county inspector general said he misled commissioners on a purchase of garbage carts.
Stewart touted his ethics in his application letter.
“Respect for and attention to professional ethics is most high on my list of imperatives,” he wrote. “Ethics is founded largely on the concept of honesty. … Integrity is our most valuable asset.”
Stewart will be paid the same $160,000 salary that Chapman received.
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